MUSKEGON COUNTY — Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation had a hunch two men they had been tracking via GPS units might rob a bank in Ravenna on Oct. 13 and warned Muskegon officials just minutes before it occurred.

That's according to newly released audio of phone calls and radio traffic between Muskegon Central Dispatch and FBI agents. The Chronicle obtained the audio tapes Friday by using a Freedom of Information Act request.

The ChoiceOne Bank in Ravenna was robbed by Derryl LaFave and Kristopher Cheyne who led police on a high-speed chase
on I-96 before they ran down and killed Walker Police Officer Trevor
Slot who was laying down stop strips at the time..

“We are right now tracking a couple of individuals up in the Muskegon County area around Ravenna, so if there happens to be a bank robbery come out, can you make sure we end up getting a phone call in Grand Rapids?,” King is heard telling the dispatcher.

“We have a couple individuals we've been tracking that we think are responsible for a couple other bank robberies down south. Two males and they've been putzing around in the Ravenna area for the last couple of days. If you guys do get a bank robbery, call in," King said.

After a bank clerk calls 911 to report the robbery, Muskegon Central dispatch calls King back.

“John, we just had a bank robbery in Ravenna," the dispatcher said.

King responds: “We got some guys...in unmarked vehicles. It sounds like our guy is already aware of it.”

The dispatch tapes indicate that the two FBI agents in unmarked vehicles didn't witness the bank robbery, but were in the area at the time and not far from the robbery scene.

Muskegon County Sheriff Dean Roesler declined to say how much his office knew of the FBI's involvement in tracking the suspects that day.

The tapes appear to show that at least two unmarked FBI cars didn't quite make it to the ChoiceOne bank before the robbery. The agents did not witness the robbery, but weren't very far from the scene. When the chase began, the agents ended up in front of the suspect's vehicle, later a blue Bravada, as it headed south toward Coopersville.

Dispatch tapes indicate Grand Rapids Police Detective Pat Harig, a member of the FBI Task Force, knew LaFave and Cheyne were in a black Blazer when they fled the scene. That car had been stolen the day before, authorities have said.

Harig said he suspected the two men were heading to Grand Rapids.

"We had our suspects in there before the bank robbery, so I'm sure that's it," Harig told a dispatcher.

Harig was discussing the Blazer, which the suspects had abandoned not far from the bank before swapping it out for the blue Bravada.

Harig told dispatchers the FBI had been tracking the suspects into Ravenna through GPS, but didn't want that information broadcast over the “air.”

"Without putting this on the air, we have GPS on the vehicle and on a phone," Harig told a dispatcher. "We do not need that on the air. I can give you location with GPS in a second. Do not put it on the radio.”

While Harig is on the line with a dispatcher, the dispatcher tells him that “shots” had been fired from the suspect's vehicle at a Michigan State Police trooper trailing them.

“He's shooting out the window at our officers. He's shooting at the state cars,” the dispatcher said.

She then asks Harig:

“Do you know their names and where they're going?”

Harig then gives the dispatchers the suspects names and details of their height and weight as the chase continued.